binary-numbers

Noun

plural form of binary number

binary numbers - Computer Definition

In mathematical terms, binary numbers are represented in base
2, representing numbers as a series of 1s and 0s. Computers work in the binary
system because binary numbers can be represented easily in electric circuitry
by electrical “on” and “off” states.

In the hacker community, the word binary means “not text.” In computing, every 8 binary
digits (bits) is used to
represent a byte. The full range of 256 values in a byte is not used to convey text, so data that uses only
this subset is typically text data.

Numbers stored in pure binary form. Within one byte (8 bits), the values 0 to 255 can be held. Two contiguous bytes (16 bits) hold values from 0 to 65,535. See numbers and binary values.

Binary and Binary Coded Decimal

The decimal number "260" takes up only two bytes in binary rather than three bytes in binary coded decimal (BCD). The two-byte binary example above can hold a number as high as 65,535, rather than five in BCD. Binary numbers are also processed faster than BCD.

How Numbers Are Stored

Binary is one of four primary ways numbers are stored in the computer.